Chelsea Bombing: What We Know and Don’t Know

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Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested in connection with explosions in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. Neighbors described him as a friendly car enthusiast and were surprised by the arrest.Published OnSept. 19, 2016CreditCreditEd Murray/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Some of his friends called him Mad — apparently a reference to his first name, not his demeanor — and he was known for an obsession with souped-up Honda Civics that he liked to race.

After the bombing, the authorities sent what’s being called an unprecedented cellphone alert to area residents, warning of the manhunt for a suspect. Mr. Rahami was found asleep in a doorway of a bar in New Jersey on Monday, and the police were called.

After a gunfight with officers, during which he was shot multiple times — including in the leg and shoulder — he was taken into custody and treated at University Hospital in Newark. An officer was hit in his vest in the area of his abdomen, officials said, and at least one other officer was hurt.

Mr. Rahami was charged in federal court with several crimes, including the use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. He was previously charged with seven counts, including five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. His bail was set at $5.2 million.

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Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the Manhattan and New Jersey bombings, was taken into custody after a shootout with the police on Monday in Linden, N.J.CreditMoshe Weiss, via Associated Press

What was the motive for the bombing?

The criminal complaint filed in federal court said Mr. Rahami was motivated by an extremist Islamic ideology and took inspiration from Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.

Another official said that when Mr. Rahami was captured, he was carrying a notebook in which he had recorded screeds against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Rahami wrote of “killing the kuffar,” or unbelievers, and praised figures like the late Anwar al-Awlaki, who was the leading propagandist of Al Qaeda.

The complaint said he planned the bombing for months, even conducting a dry run.

He previously made a series of trips to Pakistan, and some patrons of the family’s restaurant described striking changes in his personality upon his return. They said he became more stern, grew a beard, began wearing traditional Muslim robes and started praying in the back of the restaurant.

He married a woman in Pakistan, and Representative Albio Sires, Democrat of New Jersey, said Mr. Rahami had asked his office in 2014 for help bringing his pregnant wife into this country. His wife eventually entered the United States.

Law enforcement officials said that the wife, Asia Bibi Rahami, was traveling overseas at the time of the bombings. The United Arab Emirates said she was detained for questioning while in transit through the country.

Mr. Rahami’s family has had a fractious relationship with the police and neighbors in New Jersey, who complained about the noise and late hours of the restaurant. His father sued city officials and the Police Department, alleging discrimination because of his religion.

How many people were injured in the explosion?

Thirty-one people were injured (29 was the original count) by the blast around 8:30 Saturday night in Chelsea. By Sunday morning, all of those who had been admitted to hospitals had been released.

Was the blast an act of terrorism?

Windows were smashed, glass doors broken and trains stuck. The day after an explosion injured 29, causing mayhem in Chelsea, residents of the Manhattan neighborhood recounted the blast.Published OnSept. 18, 2016CreditCreditYana Paskova for The New York Times

Earlier on Monday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on CNN, “I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act.”

Are there any other suspects?

On Wednesday, the F.B.I. sought help from the public to find two unidentified men who had removed an unexploded device from a piece of luggage planted a few blocks from the bomb that exploded.

There was no immediate indication that the men where involved in the plot.

Five people, including members of Mr. Rahami’s family, were taken to an F.B.I. office in Manhattan for questioning after being stopped in a car in Brooklyn on Sunday night. But they were later released, officials said.

Where were the explosive devices found?

The second exploded in front of 131 West 23rd Street in Chelsea about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

State troopers found a third device nearby, on West 27th Street between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

About 8:45 p.m. Sunday, the two men now being sought were walking from a train station in Elizabeth, N.J., when they found a backpack containing five explosives on top of a garbage can, officials say. The location is about a half-mile from where Mr. Rahami lives.

The map here shows the two Manhattan locations.

What type of devices were found?

Both of the devices in Manhattan — the one that exploded on West 23rd Street and the other found a few blocks away — were filled with shrapnel and built from pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off an explosive compound, law enforcement officials said.

The police have confirmed that the photo below, shared on social media, is of the second device found in Manhattan.

Some of the devices contained in a backpack in New Jersey were pipe bombs. A local official described the devices involved in the explosion on the Jersey Shore as being constructed in a “pipe bomb style.”